News

A decades-old unproduced screenplay set during Japan’s 1868-’69 civil war has been dusted off and given thoroughly modern action-movie treatment in Kazuya Shiraishi’s “11 Rebels.” A highly entertaining and highly blood-drenched take on the trusty old tale of crooks and miscreants embarking on a military suicide mission on the promise of being pardoned should they happen to survive, “11 Rebels” has just the right balance of spectacular swordplay, revenge-fueled drama and double-crossing political intrigue.

After opening the Tokyo Film Festival, Shiraishi’s lusty samurai slash-’em-up will march into Japanese cinemas on Nov. 1. A slightly different version of the film has been acquired for North America by specialty distributor Well Go USA. Fans of FX’s smash-hit “Shogun” series should find plenty to like about this handsomely produced tale set in the dying days of feudal Japan. In the broader scope of samurai cinema, it combines the chamber...

When in 2001 the inaugural season of D1 Grand Prix (D1GP), subtitled Professional Drift, started, it was, on the one hand, a major event for those fans who had witnessed the contests in the two previous years, but also the foundation of a way of racing which would slowly but surely take the world by storm. Considering its anniversary last year, there was enough reason to celebrate, but also to attract younger audiences, which is perhaps one of the factors that went into the idea of “Alive Hoon”, the first feature in which D1GP would be the backdrop about a story about personal growth. In other words, director Ten Shimoyama would direct a project which essentially wants to do the same thing Tony Scott’s “Days of Thunder” has done for NASCAR racing.

Alive Hoon is screening at Asian Pop Up Cinema

Even tough he has been a major talent at e-sports,...

After he had started his career in the animation and character design at Studio Ghibli, working on such features as “Arietty” and “From Up on Poppy Hill”, Yojiro Arai eventually became a member of Studio Colorido, where he would not only work in the previously mentioned departments, but also take over directing duties. He also contributed to the animation and character design for “Sonny Boy & Dewdrop Girl”, a short feature by the studio’s co-founder Hiroyasu Ishida, who liked the cooperation with his colleague and decided to take over Arai’s job for his directing debut, the short feature “Typhoon Noruda”. Much like his colleague’s works, the inspiration for the story surrounding the friendship of two male high-school students and their encounter with a supernatural force, came from a drawing which helped him, Ishida and the remaining crew, to find the right language and design approach for the feature.

Puzzle

Written by Eisuke Naito, Makoto Sasaki, and Yusuke Yamada

Directed by Eisuke Naito

Japan, 2014

Human beings are flawed individuals, all too often succumbing to vice. Most cannot help themselves for the power of greed, lust, jealousy and the like is too much for simple mortals to resist. Do these weaknesses make humans evil creatures? The reassuring answer is ‘no’, given that people also sport a conscience, faculties to differentiate right from wrong, and, in the event that a wrong has been committed, a compulsive desire to feel regret. This balance makes people what they are: far from perfect but capable of great good. What of those who pay no heed to compassion or understanding, people whose desire is to do harm unto others? What sort of beings are they if not monsters? More frightening is the possibility of a monster awakening from within someone who did not know they were capable of embracing evil,...